Thousands of Greater Cincinnati patients of UC Health may be shopping for new doctors in the new year as the region's largest medical system and United Healthcare fight over the terms of a contract to replace a deal that expires Dec. 31. The executive director of United Healthcare in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky laid out the major problem to reaching an agreement: UC Health, he said, has asked for "a double-digit rate increase and to be paid significantly more than what other similar academic hospitals in Ohio and Kentucky are paid for providing the same services."
The Tennessee Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that hospitals must release liens against patients once they and their insurers have paid their full charges. The case was filed by three emergency patients against the Regional Medical Center in Memphis over the practice of refusing to release the liens after the bills had been paid. The high court said that even when the Med determined that another person might be liable for injuries it would still file a lien against the patients in the hope of recovering additional money. The case was initially dismissed, but was reinstated by the Court of Appeals.
Emergency rooms are expensive for hospitals to operate because they have to remain open 24 hours a day, and there has to be staff on hand in case of, well, medical emergencies. In addition, emergency rooms are required by federal law to treat anyone walking in the door, no matter whether they can pay or not. And for many who are covered by insurance, the reimbursement for services provided to them is less than the cost of providing those services, especially in rural areas. Just over a year ago, we talked about how changes brought on by the Affordable Care Act could affect charity and rural hospitals. The standalone emergency room rule change was one possible idea to address the issue. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to have had the desired result.
Beyond conducting their periodic evaluation of Womack Army Medical Center, one of the military's busiest hospitals, the inspectors who came here to Fort Bragg last March had a special task. A medical technologist had complained of dangerous lapses in the prevention of infections. The inspectors planned to follow up. But Teresa Gilbert, the technologist, said supervisors excluded her from meetings with the inspectors from the Joint Commission, an independent agency that accredits hospitals. "I was told my opinions were not necessary, nor were they warranted," said Mrs. Gilbert, an infection-control specialist.
What do real-world doctors have to say about the advice dispensed on "The Dr. Oz Show?" Less than one-third of it can be backed up by even modest medical evidence. If that sounds alarming, consider this: Nearly 4 in 10 of the assertions made on the show appear to be made on the basis of no evidence at all. The researchers who fact-checked Dr. Mehmet Oz and his on-air guests were able to find legitimate studies related to 11 percent of the recommendations made on the show. However, in these cases, the recommendations ran counter to the medical literature.
Disappointed by the collapse of the Tenet Healthcare acquisition, Bristol Hospital leaders nevertheless say they remain optimistic about the community hospital's future. The 93-year-old hospital, Bristol's second-biggest employer behind ESPN, is on sound financial ground and will record a profit this year, according to President Kurt Barwis. "We never stopped executing our plan to operate as a stand-alone community hospital," Barwis said. "We have 28 new employees in training, we're recruiting physicians. We've never stopped going forward." Almost immediately after Tenet declared it was dropping plans to buy five Connecticut hospitals, officials at one – financially troubled Waterbury Hospital – warned that layoffs and service reductions could soon follow.